HC notice to Khanna on plea seeking disqualification

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday issued a notice of motion to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament from Gurdaspur Vinod Khanna on an election petition seeking his disqualification on the grounds of issuing election advertisements on television channels seeking votes in the name of religion and not declaring the exact amount spent on advertisements and election rallies.

Khanna has to file his reply to the high court by August 25 on a petition filed by Neeraj Salhotra of Gurdaspur.

The petitioner has alleged that Khanna released the advertisements by using religious symbols, Sikh religious places and the national flag to appeal to Sikh voters of Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency to vote for him in the name of religion. As per the allegations, advertisements were aired on some TV channels repeatedly during the election campaign, right from the filing of nomination papers on April 9 till the end of the campaign on April 30. It has been alleged that Khanna committed a corrupt practice as defined under Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

It has also been alleged that Khanna failed to show the election expenditure to the tune of Rs 20.16 lakh spent on the election rally, held on April 25 at Gurdaspsur, in the election expenses account lodged by him before the district election officer, Gurdaspur.